Guys, Your Color Blindness Might Be Messing With Kenya’s Elections

by: March 6, 2013

In Kenya, color blindness may be contributing to more than just questionable sartorial combinations. Some observers say it may have something to do with the hundreds of thousands of spoiled ballots — a term for disqualified or invalidated votes — in Monday’s presidential election, adding new delays to declaring a winner and raising the possibility of a costly and contentious runoff election in April.

The significant number of rejected ballots has fueled allegations of election improprieties by the politicial parties of both of Kenya’s leading presidential contenders, Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga.

The stakes are high for both candidates. So far, Kenyatta is maintaining a small but steady lead over Odinga. Election rules established after the election violence in 2007 and 2008 stipulate that if no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote, a runoff election is required.

But what to do with all those spoiled ballots? That’s a key debate going on now.

An April runoff would increase the tension, the uncertainty, and maybe even the potential for inter-ethnic violence. A runoff would also be particularly tough for Kenyatta, since it would happen just months before he’s scheduled to appear before the International Criminal Court. He faces charges for orchestrating a campaign of rape and murder against supporters of Raila Odinga after the last disputed election.

On the other hand, if the spoiled votes are not counted and Kenyatta declared the victor, would the Kenyan people — especially those from rival minority tribes — accept the result?

These days the streets of Nairobi and other Kenyan cities are unusually quiet, the typical bumper-to-bumper traffic evaporated. Where is everybody? Most are at home behind closed doors, glued to the TV, waiting for a president. And tweeting their frustration.

“So a Kenyan would rather stand in the hot sun for four hours not to elect anyone but to spoil a vote?” said Twitter user PrettyNjambi in a typical post.

Also from the Twittersphere: The relative peace and calm that has followed this election has confounded some members of the international media that parachuted into Nairobi expecting to report on violence.

This has given rise to the hashtag #tweetlikeaforeignjournalist, and tweets such as: “Foreign Journalists stranded in their hotels as peace makes it hard for them to do their job. #tweetlikeaforeignjournalist.”

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